Front-row starter, Aric Almirola would help lead the field to green at Talladega Superspeedway for the Geico 500.
While an early caution would allow Almirola to snag the lead on lap 7, the opening stage would be relatively quiet for the Stewart-Haas Racing driver.
The following laps ran clean and the No. 10 driver hit his pit stall with the Fords on lap 41. He would go on to end the stage in P23.
Another trip to his pit crew gave him four fresh tires while a clean and green stage would set Almirola up for success.
Rich MARvelous Move of the Race
Coming to the green-white-checkered of stage 2, Almirola had worked his way to P3. In a last-second move, he got a shove from teammate Kevin Harvick. He zipped past Chase Elliott for the coveted stage win, earning this week’s Rich MARvelous Move of the Race.
STAGE 2 WINNER: @Aric_Almirola
The No. 10 pulls off a very nice move coming to the line to steal the stage win from @chaseelliott
The final stage from @TALLADEGA is next.#NASCAR #GEICO500 pic.twitter.com/VL37JFfPSr
— NASCAR on TSN (@NASCARonTSN) April 23, 2023
It was indeed a stage-ending photo finish for the No. 10 team:
By a nose!@Aric_Almirola wins Stage 2 over Chase Elliott. #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/IGPNDnYwZT
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) April 23, 2023
Almirola went on to stay up front and in contention until the second overtime restart. His luck would run out as he was behind the calamity of No. 23 Bubba Wallace spinning and collecting numerous cars throughout the field.
He would ultimately end his day P22.
Post-Race Comments:
“There’s so much to be proud of. We had a great race car and ran up-front – led, was in position all day, and then just Ross (Chastain) doing Ross things on that restart. Wiped out the right side of our car, and either broke something in the right-front suspension or had the right-front tire go flat. So, it took a race car that had a great shot to win and crashed. That part is frustrating.
But we have a lot to be proud of. Drew (crew chief Drew Blickensderfer) and these guys gave us an unbelievable speedway car again, and we keep showing up to these places with an opportunity to win. The last few weeks we’ve had really fast race cars and ran up-front, so at some point we’re going to convert and win us one.”
